Suspension device for hand tools having ring portion

ABSTRACT

A suspension device designed for a tool having a ring portion is provided. The major feature of the suspension device is that a one-piece hook member having three sequentially and flexibly linked portions is provided at the bottom of a suspension board. The three portions can be threaded through the ring portion of the tool and bended upward to form a U shape, thereby supporting the tool be the middle portion of the hook member. The outmost portion has a plug at its tip for joining with a socket member of the suspension device so that the tool cannot be removed from the hook member easily and manually.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

(a) Technical Field of the Invention

The present invention generally relates to suspension devices, and morespecifically to a suspension device for a hand tool having a ringportion.

(b) Description of the Prior Art

Various anti-theft packages of hand tools for hanging on a display rackof a retail store have already been disclosed by quite a few patents.However, most of these teachings are not applicable to combinationwrenches having jaws at one end and a box at the other end. For toolslike the combination wrenches that have a ring portion, a package thatcan suspend the tool by the ring portion while revealing the details ofthe ring portion for customer's inspection is difficult to design.Recently a suspension device for tools having a ring portion isdisclosed, as shown in FIGS. 5 to 8. As illustrated, the suspensiondevice mainly contains a suspension board 21 and a U-shaped member 22attached to the bottom of the suspension board 21 having its two wingsextended downwards. Each of the two wings has a through hole at acorresponding location. A first through holes has a surrounding flangering 23 on the outer surface of a wing. The ring portion of a tool 20 ispositioned between the wings and a pin 24 having a positioning stick 25at its tips is threaded through a second through hole, the tool 20'sring portion, and the first through hole. The pin 24 is then rotated for90 degrees so that the positioning stick 25 is trapped inside a lateralgroove 26 configured in the first through hole. With the protection ofthe flange ring 23, the entrapment of the positioning stick 25 insidethe groove 26 is more reliable and secured. The suspension device thusprovided indeed offers an adequate suspension of the tool 20 on adisplay rack. However, most of the details of the tool 20's ring portionare covered up by the U-shaped member 22. Most importantly, thesuspension device provides little anti-theft protection to the tool 20being displayed; any person can easily turn and remove the pin 24 andthen takes away the tool 20. In addition, the small and separate pin 24not only adds to the packaging effort and cost, but also can be easilylost.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

The primary purpose of the present invention is to provide a suspensiondevice specifically designed for the reliable and secured suspension ofa tool having a ring portion is provided. The major feature of thepresent invention is that a one=piece hook member having threesequentially and flexibly linked portions is provided at the bottom edgeof a suspension board. The three portions can be threaded through thering portion of the tool and bended upward to form a U shape, therebysupporting the ring portion of the tool by the middle portion of thehook member. The outmost portion has a plug at its tip for joining witha socket member of the suspension device so that the tool cannot beremoved from the hook member easily and manually.

With the forgoing design, the present invention has several advantages,in addition to the secured and reliable suspension of the tool. Forexample, the socket member and the portions of the hook member can allbe fabricated easily with a single molding process. Furthermore, theadditional cost and effort resulted from the use of separate andindividual components are therefore avoided.

The foregoing object and summary provide only a brief introduction tothe present invention. To fully appreciate these and other objects ofthe present invention as well as the invention itself, all of which willbecome apparent to those skilled in the art, the following detaileddescription of the invention and the claims should be read inconjunction with the accompanying drawings. Throughout the specificationand drawings identical reference numerals refer to identical or similarparts.

Many other advantages and features of the present invention will becomemanifest to those versed in the art upon making reference to thedetailed description and the accompanying sheets of drawings in which apreferred structural embodiment incorporating the principles of thepresent invention is shown by way of illustrative example.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 is a perspective view showing the various components of asuspension device according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a perspective view showing the suspension device of FIG. 1after its assembly.

FIG. 3 is a sectional view showing a tool suspended by the suspensiondevice of FIG. 1.

FIG. 4 is a perspective view of FIG. 3.

FIG. 5 is a perspective view showing the various components of aconventional suspension device.

FIG. 6 is a perspective view showing the conventional suspension deviceof FIG. 5 after its assembly.

FIG. 7 is a sectional view showing a tool suspended by the conventionalsuspension device of FIG. 5.

FIG. 8 is a perspective view of FIG. 7.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS

The following descriptions are of exemplary embodiments only, and arenot intended to limit the scope, applicability or configuration of theinvention in any way. Rather, the following description provides aconvenient illustration for implementing exemplary embodiments of theinvention. Various changes to the described embodiments may be made inthe function and arrangement of the elements described without departingfrom the scope of the invention as set forth in the appended claims.

As shown in FIGS. 1 to 4, a suspension device according to an embodimentof the present invention contains a suspension board 10. The suspensionboard 10 has a rectangular or other specially designed shape. On the topportion of the suspension board 10, there is a slot for hanging on ahook of a display rack. Along the bottom edge of the suspension board10, there is a socket member 11 protruding towards the front of thesuspension device. The socket member 11 has a socket 16 whose opening isalso facing the front. A hook member is extended from the bottom edge ofthe suspension board 10. The hook member contains a base plate 12, ahanger rod 13, and a cover plate 14 that are sequentially and flexiblylinked together such that they can be bended upward to form a U shape.The base plate 12 is attached to the bottom edge of the suspension board10. The hanger rod 13 is linked between the base plate 12 and the coverplate 14 for suspending the ring portion of the tool 20. The bottom endof the cover plate 14 is provided with a plug 15 that can be insertedinto the socket 16. To suspend the tool 20, the hook member is threadedthrough the ring portion of the tool 20, and then is bended upward sothat the suspension device has the plug 15 inserted into the socket 16of the socket member 11. As such, the tool 20 is reliably held by thesuspension device. To secure the binding of the plug 15 and the socket16, a fluke is provided at the tip of the plug 14 so that, when the plug15 is inserted into the socket 16, a locking plate 17 inside the socket16 sticks behind the fluke to prevent if from retracting. As such, it isbasically impossible to pull out the plug 15 manually and the tool 20 issecurely locked to the suspension device.

When a customer purchases the tool 20, he or she can use a pair ofscissors to cut the cover plate 14 into halves or to clip plug 15 fromthe cover plate 14. Then, the tool 20 can be easily removed from thesuspension device after bending the cover plate downward to become levelwith the hanger rod 13. To facilitate the cutting or clipping, thelength of the plug 15 can be designed to be a bit larger than the depthof the socket 16 so that the plug 15 can be pulled out of the socket 16for an appropriate distance, thereby providing some leverage space forthe operation of the scissors. As described above, the present inventionindeed provides a reliable and secured suspension device for tools withring portions. In addition, the socket member 11 and the portions of thehook member can all be fabricated easily with a single molding process.The additional cost and effort resulted from the use of separate andindividual components are therefore avoided.

While certain novel features of this invention have been shown anddescribed and are pointed out in the annexed claim, it is not intendedto be limited to the details above, since it will be understood thatvarious omissions, modifications, substitutions and changes in the formsand details of the device illustrated and in its operation can be madeby those skilled in the art without departing in any way from the spiritof the present invention.

1. A suspension device for a tool having a ring portion, comprising: asuspension board; and a socket member at the bottom of said suspensionboard protruding towards the front of said suspension device, saidsocket member having a socket whose opening is facing the front; and ahook member having a base plate, a hanger rod, and a cover platesequentially linked together in this order and flexibly extended fromthe bottom edge of said suspension board, said cover plate having a plugcapable of being inserted into said socket wherein said hook member isthreaded through said ring portion of said took, said hook member isbended upward so that said ring portion of said took is supported bysaid hanger rod; and said plug is inserted into said socket.
 2. Thesuspension device according to claim 1, wherein said suspension boardhas a rectangular or other specially designed shape.
 3. The suspensiondevice according to claim 1, wherein said hook member is a molded singlepiece of object.
 4. The suspension device according to claim 1, whereinthe length of said plug is larger than the depth of said socket.
 5. Thesuspension device according to claim 1, wherein a fluke is provided atthe tip of said plug; a locking plate is provided inside the socket;and, when said plug is inserted into said socket 16, said locking platesticks behind said fluke to prevent it from retracting.